Actually, for home media technology the Japanese are innovators and early adopters compared to the rest of the world. I could certainly be wrong, but because of that I would expect that they would abandon the old formats earlier than everyone else. (It is a small country with a large population, so there is only so much room available to store old junk. Besides, the young people need to keep space available for their enormous plastic-sleeved manga collections.
) There is a good chance that even if many VHS tapes for this were bought in Japan, most of them have been thrown out. And most people would not have the equipment to play them anymore.(Meanwhile, there are crackpots like me who appreciate the newer home media tech like 4kUHD, but still have two VCRs and hundreds of videotapes. But I am not in Japan.)
I also know that the standard cost of home media itself in Japan is MUCH higher than in Europe and the Americas, typically 2 to 3 times as much! It was painful for me to buy Japanese-only product from Amazon.jp. (A few years ago, CD: $54/€50; Blu-ray: $80/€74.) This VHS seems very expensive, but it is basically at the price it would have been as new product in the early days of videotape, even in other countries. Maybe it has even gone DOWN in price! Certainly inflation makes it comparatively less now.
HOWEVER, I have to wonder: maybe this movie is routinely broadcast on television in Japan, so there would be no reason for anyone to rip an old videotape even if they had it? I do not have access to Japanese broadcast information so I am only guessing.
Surely there are some FLM members who are Japanese and in Japan: If this movie is still shown on TV, is there any chance you can record it and share it? Pretty please?
